


My Hero Academia: USA

by Traveller_In_Spacetime



Category: MHA: USA, My Hero Academia: USA, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Original Character(s), Pre-Canon, References to Canon, Same World But Different Location, Work In Progress, but only slightly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 16:25:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15755448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traveller_In_Spacetime/pseuds/Traveller_In_Spacetime
Summary: Welcome to the fanmade Boku no Hero Academia spinoff, My Hero Academia: USA! Set in America in the same universe as the main BNHA story, and at around the same time, MHA: USA follows the story of Lyra Englehardt in her journey through the New York Hero Academy, and the many adventures she gets caught up in along the way! This story features entirely original characters and a completely new plot which we, the team, have built from the ground up, deviating ever more from the main story as our story progresses! We hope you enjoy!





	1. Our Story Begins

**Author's Note:**

> A quick note from me, the lead writer. I go by NeoSpaceRanger, or Neo, in most places, and I would like to give a huge thanks to the entire MHA: USA team (alphabetically);
> 
> AnekoRowlet  
> jirahmochi  
> LittleMissTardis  
> pears  
> piplupgoku  
> Quex  
> Snivy
> 
> When I first came to a Discord server with my idea, these guys jumped on board pretty damn quickly and have stuck with the project ever since. I may be the lead writer, but this project would never have come to fruition without this immensely creative and absolutely amazing group of people. They deserve so much love for everything they've done and continue to do. Thank you so much guys, from me personally!
> 
> And with that, lets get on with the story. Enjoy!

One day some years prior to the start of this story, a baby was born who radiated light. This extraordinary child heralded a paradigm shift, and before long about 80% of the world’s population possessed strange powers known as “quirks”. The world became a superhuman society, and from the chaos came superpowered criminals who took advantage of the new status quo. However, against this new, threatening darkness arose a bright light - protectors of the peace fought back, and soon came to be called “heroes”. Governments saw an opportunity to bring order to chaos, and Hero Agencies became officially licenced, fully funded civil service institutions, protecting the innocent from the dangers of villains. You may know this world’s heroes of Japan. This story, however, takes place across the Pacific - welcome to the hero culture of the USA.

* * *

Lyra Englehardt’s head jerked up as she heard the clatter of the letterbox in her front door. She shot out of her bedroom and practically bounced off the walls of the house all the way to the doormat, where a single letter sat waiting for her. Emblazoned on the front of it was the logo of the New York Hero Academy, one of the most prestigious and highly ranked hero schools in North America. Eagerly, Lyra grabbed either side of the envelope and yanked hard tearing it in two and letting its contents fall to the floor. Lyra picked up the letter and small plastic card that lay within. The card glinted in the sunlight, but the words “NYHA Temporary Student Pass” were clearly visible. She dropped into a sitting position against the wall, pass held to her chest, and closed her eyes.

For as long as she could remember, Lyra had wanted to join the ranks of the professional heroes protecting the world from those who would rather use their extraordinary abilities for their own gain - those who society referred to as “villains”. Lyra’s parents were not heroes themselves, but they followed America’s pro heroes avidly, and so for her whole childhood Lyra had been surrounded by news of the great deeds of heroes. She had always enjoyed the stories, both of the far past and of more recent times, that her parents told her, as she sat there, wide-eyed and in wonder, drinking in every drop of the glory of heroes.

She shook herself back to her senses and sprang up, sprinting back to her room. It was going to be a big day tomorrow, and she needed to make sure everything was ready.

* * *

The wall around the New York Hero Academy's main campus was enormous and intimidating, an impressive barrier of concrete and metal bracing that towered well over everyone nearby. The gate, two huge pieces of steel plated in copper, stood open, and students in uniforms of middle schools from all over the surrounding area were streaming on to the grounds of the school. Lyra stood for a while, just watching them go in, before someone lightly bumping past her brought her back to her senses. She stared at them as they glanced back, hunching almost as if sorry but afraid to say anything. They had dusty purple hair and elfen ears, but most striking were their large amber eyes. And in those eyes, for the split second she could see them, Lyra thought she could see sadness.

The moment passed as the purple-haired student quickly disappeared through the crowd. Lyra blinked a few times, before heading through the gate herself. Out front of the grand school building itself, a modernised take on typical early 21st century American high schools, there was a large courtyard with seats around the edge and a fountain in the centre. On the edge of the fountain, another student, ginger haired this time, was sitting, fingers pressed against his forehead. As Lyra approached, she could see that he actually had cat ears in amongst the mass of tousled hair, as well as a ginger tail wrapped around his waist.

“Umm, hello?” Lyra ventured. The other student’s head snapped up quickly, blinking rapidly as he clearly roused himself from deep thought.

“Oh, uh, hello,” he replied. He was clearly nervous, fingers tapping rapidly on his knees even as he looked at Lyra.

“What’s your name?” Lyra asked him, head tilted to one side.

“I’m, uh, Red,” he told her, stumbling over his words, “Red Landeck. What’s your name?”

“Lyra Englehardt,” She replied, bringing her head upright again. The boy’s breathing had slowed slightly, as had the tapping. “Are you alright? You seem very nervous.”

“Yes, well..” The tapping stopped, and he gripped his knees tightly as he looked down again. “I’m just worried about what will happen if I don’t do well enough in the exam. There are only 36 spots on the hero course that aren’t reserved for recommendation students, and there are hundreds of people applying today. The odds aren’t exactly in our favour.”

“Well if you’ve trained and revised, and your quirk is on par with mine, I’m sure you’ll be fine!” Lyra said, smiling sweetly at him.

“Oh, um…” Red looked unsure of what to say. “What is your quirk, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Power up!” Lyra told him happily. “My body naturally generates and stores a high amount of energy, which I can use to greatly enhance my physical strength! It also makes my body glow blue when I’m using it.”

“Oh, okay then…” He seemed rather defeated for some reason.

“Well, I hope I’ll see you in class at the start of term! Good luck!” Lyra said as she made her way up to the school entrance, leaving Red to watch her, confused, but somehow a little less anxious.

* * *

Lyra sat in the huge main auditorium of NYHA, other hopeful applicants all around her. She felt pretty confident about how the theory exam had gone. The multiple choice format really helped her, to be honest. The low-level chatter gradually fell to a tense silence as the lights dimmed, and the huge overhead projector put the NYHA logo across the screen. Below the screen was a lectern, which when a small spotlight turned on all the students could see was currently occupied by a short woman, with ginger hair much the same as Red’s, and a cherry red suit with wide-open blouse collar. She leant into the mic slightly, and her calm voice washed over the students, making all of them feel relaxed but also more attentive.

“Greetings, prospective students of the New York Hero Academy. My name is Narissa Janssen, and as some of you may know this is my second year as the principal here. Today, I will run you through the format of the practical section our hero course entrance exam, so that you are not flying entirely blind once you have walked out of this auditorium.” She must have tapped something on the lectern, because the screen above her head changed from the NYHA logo to a view of a city street with a large white border around the edge.

“The practical exam takes place in one of a small number of training arenas, which are currently mock-up sections of cities, each different from the others. Throughout the arenas there will be scattered a number of practice robots, each emulating the powers and actions of various types of villains.” As she said this, silhouettes began to appear around the image of the street, clearly some examples of robots. “Your task is to immobilise or destroy them and, in effect, save the city. Since they are robots, you do not need to exercise any restraint against them, but do keep everything else in mind that a hero must do when doing their jobs. The scoring system will not be revealed to you, and neither will final scores be released, but I assure you that there are many ways to score points in this exam to allow quirks of all types to shine, and bear in mind that your time is limited, so haste is essential. Now, if you could all move to your assigned changing rooms and then make your way to your assigned training arenas. Best of luck to you all!”

The lights came up as the principal left the stage, and the chatter resumed, a little louder than before, as students picked up their stuff and began to filter out of the hall, Lyra among them. As she was leaving, she spotted Red and waved, and he clearly spotted her too, as he waved back. She gave him a thumbs up, but at that he turned away and disappeared into the stream of students leaving the auditorium.

* * *

Lyra stood outside Training Arena C, surrounded by the rest of the group assigned to that training ground. Everyone was dressed in some form of tracksuit or sports kit, except for one or two who appeared to have had an attempt at making a basic hero costume. They were all a large mix of different shapes, sizes, colours and so on, especially with the addition of those with mutant-type or mixed-type quirks, who added a range of unusual, fantastical looks to the mix. One such student was a girl with goat-like horns and what looked to be a lion's mane,who looked at Lyra at the same instant Lyra looked at her. When their eyes locked, the other girl almost literally bounded over to Lyra, a reptilian tail waving behind her.

“Hi! My name's Rui! What's yours?” She was clearly excited, talking very quickly and bouncing up and down on the spot.

“I'm Lyra Englehardt,” Lyra replied, looking Rui up and down. She was fairly bulky, although this was likely due to the fur that she sported in many places. Her eyes were an intense turquoise and her grin was lined with fangs, but despite these potentially unnerving elements to her appearance, her expression was very clearly friendly, and she seemed very likeable.

“Hi Lyra! Are you excited? I sure as hell am! The practical bit of the exam’s the best bit, wouldn't'cha agree?” Her excitement was almost childlike, and she didn't seem like the kind to apply for a hero course at all.

“Yes, I suppose I am. What's your quirk? It seems like a mutant-type.”

“I'm a chimera!” Rui’s grin somehow grew even wider than before. “I have parts of a lion, a goat and a snake!” As she said this, she pointed to her mane, her horns, and her tails respectively. “What's yours?” Lyra gave Rui the same information she had given Red, and the hyperactive chimera clapped with excitement. “An enhancement quirk! That's really good!”

“I know!” Lyra grinned back at her. “Well, best of luck with the practical section! Hopefully see you in class in September!”

“Yes! Maybe! Hopefully! I'd like that!” Rui waved as she wandered back off through the crowd in the direction of the training arena gate. The gate was enormous, even larger than the front gate of the main NHYA grounds, as tall as some buildings. As the students assigned to Arena C milled around outside the gate, a huge warning lamp on either side of the gate lit up and spun, sweeping red light across the outside of the arena walls. Moments later, a speaker sounded from somewhere above the group of students, an automated voice ringing out;

“Please prepare to begin practical exam in 10, 9 -” As the countdown started, all the students snapped to alertness, turning to face the gate. “- 8, 7, 6 -” Lyra could feel the tension building slowly among the rest of the group. “- 5, 4, 3 -” Everyone was shifting their stance or readying their quirk, ready for the countdown to reach its end. “- 2, 1, 0.” As the final number was spoken, a horn sounded, and the massive gate swung slowly open. The tension broke in an instant, the whole group charging into the arena, ready to do their utmost to surpass each other in this exam, and Lyra was right in the middle, body already glowing with the energy of her quirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you enjoy that? We hope you did! We're certainly enjoying bringing you this story! If you did enjoy, why not leave a comment with your thoughts? We'd certainly appreciate it a ton!
> 
> Oh, and if you really liked it and are excited for more, why not join the Discord server we have set up? You can do so right here:
> 
> [discord.gg/ZFftQPv](https://discord.gg/ZFftQPv)  
> 
> 
>   
> We'd love to see you there! The whole team is in that server! 


	2. First Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the fanmade Boku no Hero Academia spinoff, My Hero Academia: USA! Set in America in the same universe as the main BNHA story, and at around the same time, MHA: USA follows the story of Lyra Englehardt in her journey through the New York Hero Academy, and the many adventures she gets caught up in along the way! This story features entirely original characters and a completely new plot which we, the team, have built from the ground up, deviating ever more from the main story as our story progresses! We hope you enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again from the lead writer! I intended to get this out yesterday, but some nasty writer's block kinda stopped that from happening. However! Here it is today! Next chapter won't be quite so quick, but hopefully it'll be pretty soon after!
> 
> If you enjoy this one, why not join our Discord server if you haven't already? The link is at the bottom of the page, and the app is free, so what are you waiting for? :P
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The footsteps of the students thundered as they charged through the gate. A large main street led straight through the arena from the gate, and the majority ran along it, with a few branching off into other streets. Almost immediately, the training bots were encountered, a whole variety of different shapes and sizes, some breaking windows and stealing prop items from stores, some trashing the infrastructure as a whole, some attacking mannequins of civilians, and so on. The students all scattered and started beating on the nearest bot, with varying degrees of success. Occasionally two students would go for the same bot, usually resulting in a brief argument which often resulted in the bot also getting destroyed in the process.

The instant they came into view, Lyra began to analyse each of the robots she could see, looking for a target. She grinned as she spotted one - a massive bot with spiked fists that was bearing down on a pair of mannequin civilians. With no hesitation, Lyra activated her quirk, and with skin glowing she launched herself into the air and above the bot, raising her fists up over her shoulders before slamming them down into the bot’s head, crumpling it and smashing it down inside the body. The bot shuddered, froze, and tipped slowly over, crashing to the ground and barely missing the mannequins. Lyra did a three-point landing where the bot had stood, before quickly standing and pivoting to find a new target.

She found it in a pair of villain bots robbing a fake jewelry store. She crouched like a sprinter, before powering towards the bots like a rocket, glowing fist swinging round and striking one solidly in the side, launching it into the other. The two fake villains careened along the street as Lyra readied herself for another jump, already high on adrenaline. She launched herself up, and then dropped, landing right on top of one’s torso, punching a Lyra-sized hole right through it. She quickly hopped out of it and next to the other, before pulverising it with a series of very fast and very powerful punches.

Lyra continued to make her way through bot after bot in a flurry of fists and feet, the sound of rending, buckling metal following her through the arena. She barely stopped, a hyped-up streak of tracksuit pink tearing her way around the place, her mind focussed entirely on stopping the faux villains. She was not the only one having a smashing time, however - the rest of the students in Arena C were turning their own bots to scrap metal, and sparking, smoking husks lay all over the arena, as well as the occasional bot restrained to a wall or the floor. After causing a lot of carnage, Lyra came to a stop for a moment to catch her breath. And in that moment, she spotted Rui.

Rui was in an interesting position - she appeared to be having a staring contest with one of the larger brawler bots, the same kind as the first Lyra had taken out. Lyra watched for a tense moment, preparing to intervene, before the bot raised its fist and went to pulverise Rui. Lyra let out a small gasp, about to step in, but barely even took a step before the fist made contact. Lyra stopped dead in her tracks, amazed. Rui stood, muscles tensed, fist stopped dead in its tracks by her upraised hands. She shifted her weight, dragging the bot into a stumble past her, before she leapt onto its back, unsheathing her claws and tearing into the back of its head. Lyra watched curiously as Rui inhaled deeply, before breathing out violently. The breath was one of fire, spilling from her jaws into its head, frying the bot's circuitry and causing it to fall heavily forwards. Rui hung on as it fell, standing up on its back after it had crashed to a stop. She spotted Lyra, giving her a childlike grin and waving happily. Her combat ability seemed very at odds with her happy personality.

Lyra stood, a vaguely surprised expression on her face, as she watched Rui go to savage more faux villains. Her feet remained frozen in place for a good ten seconds as the chimera sped off, and her mouth hung slightly ajar. She shook her head, closed her mouth, and settled her expression into one of determination. “I may be set for this,” she thought, “But that doesn’t mean I should take it easy! No-one else is!” She slammed her fist into her palm, before taking a sprinter stance once again, and bolting off to find more bots to smash.

The frenzy of the practical exam continued, the arena filled with the sounds of combat and destruction. Lyra tore through the bots, her simple but powerful quirk proving highly effective against the majority of bots. A couple of smaller, faster bots escaped her grasp only to run into and get obliterated by another student. Flamethrowing enemies, blade-wielding enemies, laser-blasting enemies and more fell to the immense power of Lyra’s blue glowing fists, her quirk letting her punch holes in their metal exoskeletons and scatter their circuitry.

“Thirty seconds remaining.” The automated voice sounded above the chaos, and many of the students could be seen to freeze for an instant, before redoubling their efforts. Lyra eyed up a pack of sword-handed bots that rounded the corner, before launching herself into the thick of them, crushing the head of one between her fists, before grabbing its body, jumping above the pack, and flinging the metal mass into two more robots below. She landed on a fourth, putting her fist through its head, and dodged the blade swing of a fifth before grabbing its arm and swinging it around and around, trashing most of the rest of the group, including the bot she was using as a weapon, before flinging her load into the last two members of the pack as a horn sounded.

“Your time is up,” the voice informed the students as they came to a stop, “Please halt your activity and return to the arena entrance.” The students, slightly battered and out of breath, began to shamble back the way they had come, some striking up conversations with each other about what they’d just done. There were bruises and even some blood but everyone was alive and walking, so ultimately it had been a pretty good practical section. Lyra felt exhilarated, and assured of her own performance in the exam.

* * *

 

In the days following the entrance exam, Lyra spent her time reading back over stories of her favourite heroes, her excitement mounting with every passing hour. She was sure that she had passed the entrance exam, and so it was with even more energy than the first time that she found herself sprinting for the letterbox, shredding the NYHA-branded envelope, eagerly opening the letter and yanking off the permanent student passcard. She returned to her room to read the letter, which would contain all the info she’d need before starting at the school, mind buzzing with excitement over what was to come.

* * *

 

Once again, Lyra stood in front of the NYHA main gates. But this time, almost no-one else was going in. She had seen one or two students enter just before her, but they weren’t waiting around. She tapped her passcard against the reader next to the gate, and in response a section of the gate the size of a normal door slid open to allow her passage. She stepped through and moved over to sit on the edge of the fountain, taking out the map she had been given. She wasn’t carrying any bags - all the belongings that were to be in her room over the course of the year had already been sent ahead. She studied the map, searching for the dormitory blocks, pumping a fist in triumph when she found them, running off without even folding up the map.

Map flapping behind her, she skidded to a stop in front of the 1-A dorm building. It was far more modest than the outer wall or main school building, even though it was tall for even a four-storey building, the exteriors being made of red brick, with normal sized windows and a door far less intimidating than the front gate. In simple, brass letters over the door was written “1-A”, Lyra’s class. She took out her passcard once again, and began to move it towards the card reader before hesitating. The hand holding the passcard tensed, and her breathing accelerated.

“I can do this, I’m going to be a hero, fighting villains who can break buildings,” she thought, teeth clenched, “So this will be easy. Right? It should be easy shouldn’t it? It’s just people, just other students, just like me. I mean there’s no-one  _ just _ like me, I’m actually special, that’s what my parents have always told me. But they’re like me in that they’re students.” Her hand began to shake as she held it there, before she let it drop to her side again, sighing deeply. “I’ve never been much good at understanding people,” she said out loud to herself, head lowered, “But it was OK before the entrance exam. Then, it was all about the exam, the questions, the fighting. Now I’m beyond that, and I’m going to be seeing these people every day. I have to make friends. That’s what mom said, I have to make friends. It’s hard but I have to.” She brought her head back up again, determined. She solidly shoved the card onto the reader, and eyed the door as the reader beeped and it swung open in front of her.

On the other side was a pretty spacious common area, considering that there were going to be a grand total of 20 people living there. It was mostly empty, but from where she stood, Lyra could see the back of a familiar head. A familiar ginger head with cat ears. Lyra sighed with relief - when she had talked to Red last time, she was mostly just being polite, but now it was a relief to see a familiar face. Or the back of his head anyway.

“Red!” she called from just inside the doorway. “I was actually right! We did both make it!” Red turned to face her, his face lighting up when he recognised who had called his name.

“Lyra!” he called back happily, “So you were! Boy am I glad to see you, everyone else is just staying in their rooms until we’re supposed to come down here for the introduction, and I don’t know anyone well enough to knock on any doors.”

“Have you already unpacked your stuff then?”

“Yep! To be honest though, there wasn’t a huge amount that needed doing.” He looked a tiny bit embarrassed.

“Well would you like to come to my room then? I only just got here, so I still need to unpick mine.” She smiled, relieved that she appeared to have made a friend already. This may yet be easier than she was expecting.

“Oh, uh, um..” Red stumbled over the start of his sentence, “The two halves of the building are divided between boys and girls. I’m not supposed to go into your half.”

“I’m sure it will be fine!” Lyra beckoned to him as she read her room number off her passcard and walked off in the direction of the girls’ dorms, “If we get in trouble though, I’ll say it was my fault.” She continued walking at a brisk pace, forcing Red to hastily jump of the sofa and rush after her.

* * *

 

The elevator came to a stop with a a ping on the third floor, where Lyra’s room was located. To their left was the locked door which separated the boys’ rooms from the girls’ rooms, and to their right was the corridor on which the rooms were located. Lyra’s room was at the end of the corridor,  and so the two began walking. Lyra was nearly at the door when she heard a door open behind her, followed by a shriek from Red. She spun around, only to see something large and furry moving at great speed towards her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you enjoy that? We hope you did! We're certainly enjoying bringing you this story! If you did enjoy, why not leave a comment with your thoughts? We'd certainly appreciate it a ton!
> 
> Oh, and if you really liked it and are excited for more, why not join the Discord server we have set up? You can do so right here:
> 
> [discord.gg/ZFftQPv](https://discord.gg/ZFftQPv)  
> 
> 
>   
> We'd love to see you there! The whole team is in that server! 


	3. New Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the fanmade Boku no Hero Academia spinoff, My Hero Academia: USA! Set in America in the same universe as the main BNHA story, and at around the same time, MHA: USA follows the story of Lyra Englehardt in her journey through the New York Hero Academy, and the many adventures she gets caught up in along the way! This story features entirely original characters and a completely new plot which we, the team, have built from the ground up, deviating ever more from the main story as our story progresses! We hope you enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lead writer here again, and can I say that I am so sorry I stalled quite so hard on this. I have had quite a long period where I've really struggled to write anything at all, so this just didn't get updated. However, hopefully things should be back on track now, so you should be getting far more frequent updates! So yeah, now would be a good time to join our Discord server if that's your kind of thing ;) (Link at the end of the chapter)

Lyra jumped backwards as the bundle of fur that turned out to be Rui cannoned towards her, mercifully stopping just short of bowling her over.

“Lyra! We  _ did _ both make it in! I’m so happy to see you!” Rui said, hugging Lyra very tightly.

“So we did!” Lyra said happily. This making friends thing was going a lot better than anticipated. “It seems the entrance exam helped me in more ways than one,” she thought, as she returned the hug to Rui. The chimera was very warm, possibly because of the fire breath part of her quirk, possibly because of her fur, or possibly because her room temperature was up high. Eventually Rui let Lyra go, but kept her hands on her shoulders, bouncing up and down slightly.

“We get to meet everyone else in the class really soon! And then we start at school proper tomorrow! Isn’t that exciting!?” She still had that permanent smile plastered across her face, seemingly unendingly excited and energetic.

“I don’t know about meeting people, but starting classes will be!” Lyra replied, “I’m glad that we all ended up in the same class.” Rui looked confused for a moment;

“All?” Then she remembered Red, and spun around to face him instead. “Hello there, I’m Rui! What’s your name? Also why are you in the girls’ half of the building when you’re not a girl... I don’t think?” Red looked stunned and rather tense, but he managed to make a comprehensible response.

“M-My name’s Red… And I’m up here because Lyra invited my to come and talk in her room while she unpacks?” he offered tentatively.

“Oh OK, hello Red! Can I come too?” Rui directed the question to Lyra.

“Yes, of course!” Lyra said, smiling back at her. Red looked vaguely uncomfortable with the prospect, but he said nothing and neither girl noticed.

* * *

 

Red sat in the chair provided for Lyra’s room, and Rui stood on the bed, shoes off, bouncing gently. Lyra was organising all of her belongings into neat, categorised piles.

“So!” Rui said, happily, breaking the silence, “I know what Lyra’s quirk does because we were in the same arena but I haven’t seen Red’s. What’s your quirk, Red?” The ginger-haired boy  looked at the floor, his tail curling around his waist and his ears flattening to his head.

“I… I’d rather not say…”

“Oh come on,” Rui said, landing sitting on the bed, facing Red, “You got into this school like both of us didn’t you? Your quirk has to be pretty good for you to achieve that!” Red hunched up, hands covering his face.

“Not really…”

“Please tell?”

“I’d rather not…”

“Pleeeeeeeeeease?”

Red’s hands snapped down from his face and he gripped the seat of his chair.

“Okay fine. My quirk is Redirect. I can instantly alter the direction of a moving object without changing its speed. Happy now? It’s a stupid quirk, not like your super strength and chimera form and all the other amazing quirks our class will no doubt have.” The girls sat there, stunned. A tense silence filled the room.

“Can you redirect anything? Tennis balls? Bullets? People?” Rui asked suddenly, excited as ever. Red pressed himself back into his chair, staring at Rui, his expression a mixture of confusion, surprise, and worry.

“Uh, yes? I can redirect any solid object, in theory, including living things.”

“That’s so cool! Can you do it with, like, any part of your body?”

“Yeah but, uh, only a certain area of my body at once, so like a hand, or part of my chest.”

“So you can become kinda, I dunno, bulletproof!”

“I… Suppose?”

“That’s super cool! Can you show us?” Rui was sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning as far towards Red as she could.

“I mean yeah, I could, but we should probably-”

“Think fast!” Rui had pulled a coin out of her pocket, and tossed it at Red as she said this. Instinctively, he brought his hand up, the surface of his palm and fingers glowing a faint orange. As soon as the coin struck his hand, it rebounded, rocketing back at Rui at the same speed she’d thrown it at, hitting her square in the forehead. She tipped back onto the bed, arms splayed, and Red got up from his chair, one hand outstretched, the other to his mouth.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry!” he said, stumbling over, when Rui suddenly sat bolt upright.

“That was awesome! Do it again!” She began searching the bed for the coin.

“No Rui please don’t do that again! I don’t want to break anything!”

“Aww.” She pouted for a moment. “Wait, you haven’t seen our quirks! Let me show you mine!” She took a deep breath in, but this time Lyra intervened.

“Rui, you should not do that here. “I’m sure we will get to demonstrate our quirks in class at some point anyway.” Rui pouted again, letting her breath out with a small puff of smoke. Red looked thoughtful.

“I wonder what our first classes  _ will _ be.” he mused to the universe at large. With that, conversation turned to school and what they might expect the following day, keeping the three well occupied until Lyra had finished unpacking.

* * *

 

By the time Lyra had finished unpacking and the three went back downstairs, most of the rest of the 1-A students seemed to already be in the common room. They seemed a pretty visually diverse bunch, with a lot of extra parts and strange skin colours, such as one girl with blue skin and another student sitting in the corner on their own, with grey-purple skin - 

“Hey, I know you!” Lyra said happily, “You are the person who bumped into me by the gate, then gave me a look as if you had borne more sorrow than any other human to ever have existed!” The odd-looking student gave her a look that was a mixture of embarrassment and despair, before shrinking back into the chair they were sitting in. Lyra could get a better look at them now they weren’t in a crowd - they had long, dusty purple hair, greyish skin, elf-like ears, and faintly glowing amber eyes that stared out sorrowfully from under their bangs. Lyra’s statement also prompted reactions from Red and Rui, with Red looking between the two, a perplexed expression on his face, and Rui looking at the new person with a slightly pitying expression. Then suddenly, Rui leapt at the strange person, catching them in a hug that it didn’t seem like they were going to escape any time soon.

“It’s okay! If you’re sad we’ll help! Give ya something to smile about!” The chimera girl happily hugged the elfen student, before releasing them.

“So, what’s ya name?”

“D-Dez..” The student said nervously, shrinking back into his seat. “And, you don’t have to… To do anything…”

“Nonsense!” Rui was grinning from ear to ear. “We’ll help ya! C’mon, come sit with us for the briefing!” At this, Dez hesitantly nodded, and stood, shoulders hunched. He followed the others over to one of the sofas and reluctantly sat down with them, the rest of their classmates slowly doing the same as 6pm approached - the time they had all been told to be in the common area by.

* * *

 

On the dot as 6pm hit, the door to the residential building flew open suddenly, and a woman strode in. She was slightly above average height and average build, but was heavily muscled and looked like she could absolutely kick ass. Her latina-toned skin was contrasted by bright pink hair pulled back into a ponytail, and her sleeveless vest made the entirety of her sleeve tattoo on her left arm visible.

“Alright then kids, I’m Natalia Iglesias, also known professionally as Gunslinger, also known as your homeroom teacher.” She closed the door behind her, and took up a strong but casual stance in front of the slightly stunned students. “Good to see that you’re all here, I think, so I don’t have to waste any time before giving you your briefing.” She swung her backpack from her shoulders and dumped it on the floor, and pulled a bunch of thin folders out. “Here’s some welcome packs for you all, they’ve got maps and timetables other useful information in them, so don’t lose them! Pass them around, make sure everyone gets one.” She began to hand them out to the students closest to her, who did as she asked until the entire class had one each. Lyra opened hers to look through, but Natalia started talking again.

“Okay so first, ground rules about the house. First, be sensible, and don’t break stuff or cause a mess on purpose. Generally good conduct is what we’re expecting.” It was clear from her face and tone of voice that she had more that she was supposed to say, but thought it was unnecessary, and so she was summarising. “Don’t do anything else stupid either, like drinking underage, smoking, anything else along those lines. You’re smart, you can figure out what will and won’t get you kicked out of a top school, or punished in some other way. And for your own sakes, hold off being horny for a while.”

This last got some laughter out of most of the students, and a grin from Natalia herself. “Seriously, though. Don’t do it. Bad plan in your first year. Anyway, now that that’s done, I guess you want to hear what’s coming up this week.” The students gave a mini-cheer this time, and Lyra began listening more intently.

“First week is welcome week, as you might know, so you’re just gonna be with the other people in this room for the week. This is both your homeroom class and your hero course class - electives are going to be mixed with students from other homerooms.” The students started murmuring excitedly, wondering what was going to be happening, but thankfully for their curiosity, she immediately followed up on that.

“Welcome week means it’s all going to be fun and casual, so no proper lessons or test yet. It’s all so you can meet each other and the staff, and so that we can meet you! The full timetable is in your welcome packs, so you can check that out after we’re done here.” Most of the students flipped through the pack to find the timetable, Lyra included, and began reading it. “Anyway, for now that should do the trick. You’re not supposed to use your quirks in accommodation, but I know that no-one ever listens to that, so just don’t cause wanton destruction and you’ll be good. Now, sleep well and sleep early, you do need to be up for a decent time tomorrow!” She turned to go, but one of the students spoke up, a girl with long, dark red hair, with one side shaven.

“Umm, miss, what’s your quirk?”

Natalia slowly turned back around, now grinning.

“Gunshow.”

She flexed, getting some eye rolls from the class, when suddenly each forearm morphed and changed colour, until they had quickly turned into two heavy assault rifles, with a mechanism that attached them to her elbows instead of the usual grip. This got a set of reactions from the class, mostly gasps, a lot of open mouths, and one or two cheers. Even in a world where everyone had some kind of special power, that kind of display rarely failed to get a reaction.

Natalia’s arms reverted to normal after a moment, and she winked at the class, turning to leave once more. Lyra noticed that she seemed to have some difficulty with the door handle, but she got it open eventually, and walked out to the chatter of the class. Lyra suddenly felt herself being shaken by the shoulder, quite vigorously too - it was Rui.

“Lyra! Lyra! That was so dang cool! Wasn’t it!”

“Yeah! Yeah it was!” Lyra was grinning, although not quite as much as Rui. 

“I wonder what is going to happen next,” Lyra thought, “I can already tell that whatever it it, it is going to be exciting!”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you enjoy that? We hope you did! We're certainly enjoying bringing you this story! If you did enjoy, why not leave a comment with your thoughts? We'd certainly appreciate it a ton!
> 
> Oh, and if you really liked it and are excited for more, why not join the Discord server we have set up? You can do so right here:
> 
> [discord.gg/ZFftQPv](https://discord.gg/ZFftQPv)  
> 
> 
>   
> We'd love to see you there! The whole team is in that server! 


	4. Dawn Of A New Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the fanmade Boku no Hero Academia spinoff, My Hero Academia: USA! Set in America in the same universe as the main BNHA story, and at around the same time, MHA: USA follows the story of Lyra Englehardt in her journey through the New York Hero Academy, and the many adventures she gets caught up in along the way! This story features entirely original characters and a completely new plot which we, the team, have built from the ground up, deviating ever more from the main story as our story progresses! We hope you enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a while, hasn't it? Motivation is hard, and I started at university in October, so what little progress has been made has all been backed stuff. But now we're back! Releases aren't suddenly going to become a twice-weekly affair, it still takes ages for me to write a chapter, but they're going to start happening again! I hope you're as excited as we are for this to come back!
> 
> Oh, and I should not, this chapter is a little longer than usual, because we're getting a lot of introductions! It might seem pointless, but I've tried to give you a little bit of characterisation for every member of class 1-A you haven't met yet! As well as a few you have ;)

Dawn had broken on the first day of welcome week hours ago, and the students of 1-A were making their way to their homeroom one or two at a time. Some already seemed to have formed friend groups, and Lyra was one of those - she, Red and Rui were chatting intently, and Dez was even tailing along close behind them. Everyone slowly trickled into the classroom, found their seats, and upon discovering that the seating plan was in alphabetical order immediately moved to a random part of the classroom and stood around in their friend groups. Lyra sat on the desk, legs crossed, and thought over things as the others chatted.

“I never would have expected that it would be this easy to make friends here!” she thought, an absent smile on her face, “I barely had friends at my previous school, but here I already have three new friends! And it has not even been a day!”

She looked around her new friends, Rui and Red having a vigorous discussion about the school, and Dez sitting there listening with a slightly less depressed expression than usual. He was almost smiling.

“I am curious to see what Red and Dez can do in combat, since I have already seen Rui, but that is not the only reason I am interested in them! I enjoy their personalities too!”

Her train of thought was interrupted first by the bell, which stopped all conversations and made some of the students jump, and then shortly afterwards by the classroom door opening to reveal their homeroom teacher, Natalia Iglesias. She wandered over to the front of the classroom, dropped into her chair, and swung her feet up onto the desk, crossing her legs.

“You should probably be in your assigned seats by now.” She sounded disinterested, as if the concept of sitting itself was stupid. The class scrambled for their seats, and despite the mild chaos that ensued, everyone eventually got seated in the correct place. Lyra was sat on the front row, slap bang in the middle, with a perfect view of the bottom of Natalia's boots. Once they were all somewhat settled, Natalia swung her feet back off the desk again, only to sit on it and swing her feet over in front, legs crossed.

“So,” she began, “You were all there yesterday evening so you know my name-” She was cut off as she noticed something at the back of the classroom. “Yes?” a brown-haired girl in a light brown turtleneck sweater had her hand up.

“Miss Iglesias, what should we call you? Miss, or ma'am, or something else?” Natalia pulled a weird face at “ma'am”, before responding. “Just Natalia should do for now, and I'm only a “miss” for the time being.” Another hand shot up, this time from the red-haired girl who'd asked about Natalia's quirk the previous day.

_ “Yes?” _ Natalia sounded a little exasperated.

“What's your partner like?” 

Natalia's expression slowly changed from one of boredom to a slight grin.

“Wellll, since you asked, their name is TJ, and we've been together for a fair while. We actually met when they did my tattoo.” She held her left arm up in front of her, making her intricate sleeve tattoo move easily visible. Another hand was raised, this time belonging to Red.

“Um, if it's not too personal a question… Why do you keep saying “they” instead of “he” or “she”?” Natalia shrugged.

“I guess it's still not a widely understood thing. TJ is nonbinary, and so they use neutral pronouns.” This left Red looking rather confused.

“Umm, if you don't mind me asking, what does “nonbinary” mean?”

“Gender identity, look it up if you're confused...” Natalia shrugged. “So, you all know my name and have seen my quirk, but you don't all know each other yet. Now, I know everyone always hates the “say something interesting about yourself” bullshit, so we're gonna be simple today. Going around alphabetically, nice and loud, say your name and the short version of your quirk.” She pointed at the first student, a girl with black hair with a bow, who was clutching a small pink stuffed rabbit. “You first, then we'll go along the row, then loop to the next, and so on.” The girl stood up, and spoke only just loudly enough for the room to hear.

“I'm, uh, Sunny Chi, and my quirk is, uh, Puppeteer, so I can use objects like uh, puppets with telekinesis.” As soon as shed finished talking, she hastily sat down, and the next person, the red-haired girl who'd asked about Natalia's partner, stood up.

“My name's Athena Crimson! My quirk is Water Familiar, so I can make water come from my arms and stuff. Well, as long as Baloo here's in good shape!” As she spoke, as small, watery-looking thing shot up out of her bag and hovered around her head, speaking gibberish in a high-pitched voice. Despite its rapid motion, Lyra could just about pick out a smiling face on what she could only assume was a small creature.

As Athena sat down, Lyra stood up to give her own little presentation. She was very excited but also a little nervous, making a first impression on so many people at once.

“My name is Lyra Englehardt, and my quirk is Power Up! I can charge my body up with energy to enhance my movement speed or release it on impact, which enhances the power of my strikes!” She spoke as confidently as she could, smiling the whole way, but sat down pretty quickly afterwards.

“I really hope that that I made a good first impression,” she thought, “I would not want anyone to think badly of me on the first day.”

The boy who stood up after her did so calmly, taking a brief stretch.

“I’m Everett Gallagher. My quirk’s Lightning Strike! I can channel my movement through bursts of electricity, allowing me to move super fast and hit super hard!” As if to illustrate the point, sparks momentarily went off in his shock of spiky brown hair as he ran his hand through it. He sat back down, leaning back into his chair, as Natalia looked to the girl on his other side, who was wearing a scowl her shoulders hunched. She was a little on the heavier side than most of the other girls, and had short, dyed-red hair. She looked tough, and when she spoke, she sounded like she’d really rather not be speaking.

“Kate Goodridge. Imagicreatures. I can summon shit from my mind to fight.” The introduction was brief, and she refused to even stand up, keeping her hands in her pockets for the whole thing. Natalia didn’t seem to mind the attitude, just nodding to the first student in the second row, which happened to be Rui, whose introduction was as exuberant as Lyra was expecting. Next was the girl in the class with probably the most striking attribute - not her vibrant ginger hair, but her entirely blue skin. She looked like she’d been dropped in a vat of paint with a swim cap on. She spoke with a smile, bobbing up and down slightly as she did so.

“Zelenaaa! That’s me! I’m Zelena Kirk! And I can detach my limbs really fast! You can call me Z!” Zelena sat down, leaving half the class giving her odd looks. And then, keeping the blue theme going, the next girl had blue tips to her black hair. Unlike everyone else so far, she looked to be Asian, though her accent gave away that she’d probably been raised in America.

“Hibiki Kusada. Call me Cyril. My quirk is Conversion - I can absorb, convert and release energy.” Her voice had a hard edge to it, and she stood almost as if she was expecting some kind of attack at any moment. After Cyril was Red, and he almost couldn’t get his words out, nervous as ever, but he did manage to coherently introduce himself, and Natalia nodded in encouragement as he spoke. When he said his name, one of the other students gave a quiet gasp, almost inaudible, so Lyra didn’t catch who it was. The boy who came after Red had green scales covering the right half of his face, and the eye in that half looked like it belonged to a lizard. The “normal” half was Asian, and the other eye was black, with a normal pupil. When he spoke, there was a hint of aggression in his tone.”

“I’m Izzy Manoban. My quirk is Reptile, and it should be obvious what it does.” He slumped back into his chair. The boy who was first in the third row had kind of metallic silver hair, as well as thing, rectangular glasses and freckles, and had a slight permanent smirk on his lips.

“I’m Austin Moore! My quirk’s Steel Bird - I can grow metal wings, and even cover myself in a layer of metal! Movement  _ and _ durability!” The boy who stood up after Austin had black hair with two small tufts sticking up on top of his haid, and a thin line running down each side of his face from under his eyes. He also kept glancing at Red, who wasn’t watching anyone else’s introductions.

“I’m Junichiro Murata, but you can call me Juni. Or Mura. My quirk is Counterstrike - I can redirect attacks that I can touch with my skin!” Red suddenly looked up and spun around in his chair, fixing Juni with a look as he sat down. After Juni came… Someone who couldn’t really be called a boy or a girl. More of a plant. Their blonde hair was normal enough, but their skin was a pale green and textured pretty much exactly like a plant, and their eyes were a blank white. When they stood up and spoke, their voice was silky smooth, and felt very calming.

“I’m Mino Muasev. My quirk, Vine Arms, allows me to grow vine-like limbs out of my back.” They sat down, and there was a notable moment of silence from the entire class, before the white-haired girl after him stood up to talk. She was tall, slim, and almost as nervous as Red, clutching her hands in front of her and barely looking up while she spoke.

“Ehem, I’m, Sophia Norcross. My quirk, Forcefield, allows me to create, eh, forcefields with fully manipulatable geometries.” She quickly sat down, nervously playing with her ponytail. The girl after her stood up sharply, almost knocking her chair over backwards, with it only upright because of the desk behind it. Her black hair faded to purple at the tips, and fell messily over her tan skin and purple eyes. She wore a wonky grin, swaying gently where she stood.

“My name’s Marianette O’Caul! Mari for short. Also Penni, but she’s not here right now. My quirk is Darkfire! I can generate and control fire that absorbs light rather than releasing it.” She sat back down, scraping her chair back into place, and drawing weird looks from some of the rest of the class, including the next person to stand up, a boy with pale skin and even paler grey-blue hair. Lyra caught a glimpse of two triangular markings on his face, one above his right eye, one below.

“My name is Edward Patters.” His voice is smooth, but not in the same way as Mino’s. More slick like oil. “My quirk is Berserker, and it allows me to increase my physical power immensely.” He sat down as smoothly as he spoke, interlacing his fingers with a thin smile. The smile of the next student, a green-haired boy with an excessive number of rubber wristbands on his right wrist, was much less unnerving. He gave the class a half-wave, entirely oblivious to the awkwardness in the air.

“Hi! I’m Draix, Draix Sereno! My quirk lets me pull things out of shadows that are made of shadows! It’s called Shadow.” He sat down, still completely unaware of the weird look Edward was giving him. After Draix, the girl who stood up wore a brown turtleneck, coloured very similar to her hair, along with large glasses that framed her bright green eyes. She stood up straight, hands behind her back, almost like a military cadet.

“My name is Olivia Truvian! My quirk is Weapon Summon, and it enables me to summon any weapon I know well in an energy form, as long as I maintain contact with the weapon.” She sits down, hands smartly in front of her on the desk. The boy after her, who was of African-American heritage and wore a flashy smile, stood up with a flick of his frizzy ponytail.

“I’m Jamarcus Upton. My quirk is…” He held one hand into the air. “Firework!” He snapped his fingers, setting off a small, colourful explosion between them, and making a number of the class jump. He sat down to clapping from Zelena, with Dez standing up as the last person to introduce himself. There was a good, few second pause before he spoke up quietly.

“I’m Dez. I can teleport and generate special dust.” He sat down with an even more brief introduction than Kate, and after a few seconds of pause, Natalia stood up off her desk, clapping her hands and drawing attention back to her at the front.

“Well, that’s the worst part of welcome week out of the way. Everyone hates it, but it’s tradition and they made time for it. So, your course. Since you applied here  _ and _ made it in, you probably know what’s going on, but in case you need a refresher, here’s how things are going to work. For all the normal classes, math, history, that stuff, you’ll be mixed up with the other courses, but for the stuff specific to the hero course, you’ll be with the other people from your homeroom. As for specific course content, it’s all in your handouts, so give those a read. I’ll give you a few minutes to do that, and you can ask me if you have any questions.” She walked around behind her desk and sat down heavily, while the class, Lyra included, took out their handouts and read over the details of the course. Almost immediately, a hand shot up, and this one happened to belong to Rui.

“Miss! When do we get our timetables?”

“Near the end of Welcome Week, they’re still working out how they mix students up.” Natalia replied as she got her phone out. Silence then reigned for a few minutes more as everyone read things over. Hero Basic Training, quirk development, hero law, so on and so forth...

“Well,” thought Lyra, “Even if it looks like it is going to be easy enough, this should be interesting and fun!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you enjoy that? We hope you did! We're certainly enjoying bringing you this story! If you did enjoy, why not leave a comment with your thoughts? We'd certainly appreciate it a ton!
> 
> Oh, and if you really liked it and are excited for more, why not join the Discord server we have set up? You can do so right here:
> 
> [discord.gg/ZFftQPv](https://discord.gg/ZFftQPv)  
> 
> 
>   
> We'd love to see you there! The whole team is in that server! 


	5. A Friendly Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the fanmade Boku no Hero Academia spinoff, My Hero Academia: USA! Set in America in the same universe as the main BNHA story, and at around the same time, MHA: USA follows the story of Lyra Englehardt in her journey through the New York Hero Academy, and the many adventures she gets caught up in along the way! This story features entirely original characters and a completely new plot which we, the team, have built from the ground up, deviating ever more from the main story as our story progresses! We hope you enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? A new chapter in under a week? Madness! Seriously though, I'm actually feeling motivated at the moment, so I'm gonna capitalise on that and pump out some Content! I hope you enjoy this one, even if there aren't any quirks being shown off :P
> 
> Also, art! We've actually had a couple of amazing pieces of fanart, one of [the loveable Rui,](https://aminoapps.com/c/my-hero-academia/page/blog/best-girl-rui/a2WW_lwC0ueBz2YNXzzaQZo3q38WBRLblqIE) courtesy of Bean (Bri) on Amino, and one of [Red, Rui and Lyra,](https://www.instagram.com/p/BwxJxU2HzFn/?hl=en) drawn by Clover on Instagram! And also shared in our Discord server. Thank you so much guys, it means the word to everyone on the writing team!

“Alright, time’s up!”

Class 1-A collectively put down their pens as Natalia stood up. Lyra carefully straightened the paper with her pop quiz answers in the middle of her desk, laying her pen neatly in line next to it, and waited. To her surprise, however, rather than collecting papers, Natalia sat back down and booted up the projector screen behind her, bringing up a list of answers.

“Mark for yourselves. It’s a pop quiz, not a damn exam, so if you cheat it then it’s not going to get you anywhere. Compare answers in your own time if you absolutely have to.” Lyra looked between the screen and her paper repeatedly, marking her own answers.

“That is weird,” she thought, “Why have us do a quiz or test that will not have any bearing on anything?” Regardless of her confusion, she finished marking, circling a “20/20” at the top of her page. The scratching of pens on paper could be heard all around as everyone did the same, with other small noises vaguely indicating a range of outcomes through the class. People finished up, and sat around awkwardly for a moment, before Natalia looked up with something of a realisation.

“Oh, yeah, you’ve got some free time before lunch, so feel free to have a wander before either coming here so I can show you where to go, or going there yourself. Bear in mind - if you’re late, you’re only gonna get whatever’s left.” The pink-haired homeroom teacher looked back to her phone, and chatter immediately started up around the room, as students moved around and fell back into a free time attitude. Rui almost immediately barrelled over to Lyra, skidding to a stop sitting on her desk.

“Lyra! Whatcha say we go explore together with the boys?”

“The boys? Are you referring to Red and Denzel?”

“ ‘Course I am, silly! Now we going or what?” Lyra nodded.

“Let us go!” She stood up sharply, heading for the door as Rui grabbed Red and Dez, practically dragging them over, since Dez was being characteristically antisocial, and Red was absent-mindedly staring at Juni, a puzzled look on his face.

Red and Dez were both having a hard time keeping up with the girls, mostly since Rui was seemingly full of boundless energy and Lyra could actually keep up. It got to the point where Dez would have to teleport a short distance from time to time because Rui was going so fast. They raced from building to building, gazing up at smooth shapes made of concrete and glass as Rui rattled off what each building was from the map she gripped in one hand, before dashing off once more through the trees and freshly cut grass that pleasantly littered the NYHA campus.

Eventually Rui took a heavy seat on a bench, with Lyra sitting smartly next to her. Dez grumpily leaned against a nearby bin.

“Would it’ve killed you to have gone a bit slower?” he asked, clearly irritated, as Red caught up, breathing heavily.

“Sorryyyyy!” Rui rubbed the back of her neck with an apologetic smile. Dez rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t even ask to come on this tour with you, you literally dragged me along.”

“Yeah but it was fun wasn’t it?”

“Hmph…” Dez rolled his eyes, but he looked away quickly, suddenly very interested in the architecture. Red, meanwhile, checked his phone, having caught his breath.

“Um, guys? It’s, nearly time for lunch? So we should um, maybe go?” Rui jumped to her feet.

“To the cafeteria!”

Dez groaned, stretching, as Rui bolted off, with Lyra in hot pursuit.

“Take it easy?” Dez asked Red, with a nervous glance.

“Yeah, let’s. I’m exhausted.”

Despite the only people present being first years, staff, and a few second and third years who’d clearly been roped into helping out with welcome week, the cafeteria was pretty crowded when Red and Dez arrived. As they walked towards the serving hatches, they passed Lyra and Rui, already seated. Lyra, seated facing them, spotted them and waved, prompting Rui to turn around and wave vigorously, yelling to the two of them to come over. They did so, much to Dez’s chagrin, and Rui scooted over a seat to make room.

“We saved seats for you!”

“We haven’t even got food yet,” a disgruntled Dez told her.

“Oh yeah right, you go get food then come back here! We saved you seats!”

“Thanks, Rui!” Red said, giving her a thumbs up.

“Yeah, thanks. Jeez, do you ever get tired?” Dez asked.

“Nope!”

“ ‘Course not.” Dez gave an exasperated look, shrugged , and walked away with Red to get food.

“Sho, Lyruh,” Rui began with a full mouth, before swallowing, “Why are you here? Why d’you want to be at NYHA?” 

“To become a hero!” Lyra replied without hesitation. Rui took another large mouthful of food, swallowing loudly.

“That’s why  _ everyone’s _ here. But why become a hero? I wanna keep smiling, always, give people hope. What’s your reason?” This question actually made Lyra stop and think for a moment.

“I… Have not really thought about it much. I suppose that it just feels right for me, as if I was always meant to take this path. Saving people, defeating those who abuse their quirks, and so on.” Rui shrugs, swallowing yet another enormous mouthful.

“Fair dos. Good a reason as any. Now, you gonna eat that?” She pointed to the food on Lyra’s plate, which remained entirely untouched.

“Give her a chance, Rui. Not all of us eat like someone three times our size.” Dez and Red had returned with food of their own, and Dez had noticeably loosened up around the group, to the point that he tossed this quip at Rui.

“I’m hungry!” Rui shrugged in Dez’s direction, wolfing down the last of her own food as the boys sat down. The three of them with food remaining began to eat, as Rui not-so-subtly eyed their plates.

“So, um,” Red spoke up, awkwardly making an attempt at conversation, “What were you talking about while we were getting food?”

“Reasons for wanting to become a hero!” Rui piped up happily, Lyra’s grin betraying her excitement over the topic. “I wanna give people hope, and Lyra just thinks it feels right, what ‘bout you two?” Dez stayed silent and Red immediately stared straight into his plate, leaving the group in silence for a few seconds before Rui gently elbowed Dez.

“Hey! Fine fine. I… I want to be a hero to prove people wrong.” After a few more silent seconds of both girls staring at him, Dez elaborates, albeit kind of quietly. “People told me that I had a useless, girly quirk. That was a freak who’d never be a hero no matter how hard I wanted to be. That I didn’t ‘look’ like a hero. So I’m gonna prove them wrong.” He was promptly brought out of the brooding moment, by a small clap from Rui, who was clearly delighted that he’d opened up a bit. With that, the group’s attention turned to Red, who seemed like he was trying very hard to become invisible, despite that not being his quirk.

“Is something wrong, Red?” Lyra asked, genuinely concerned, “You are quieter than usual.” Red gripped the edge of his chair, and without looking up, muttered just loudly enough for the group to hear;

“My mom’s the principal.”

Those four words seemed to hang in the air for a moment that felt like forever, before Red’s head jerked up and he spoke quickly.

“Please don’t tell anyone else, please please please! They’ll think I only got in because of that!” Rui leaned across the table and patted him on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, ya secret’s safe with us!”

“Absolutely!” Lyra chimed in, awkwardly putting an arm around Red’s shoulders as Dez gave a thumbs up. “I do not understand why they would think that, but if that is your concern then I will keep it a secret. It is what friends do, correct?”

“Another thing,” Once again, Rui broke the tension, “Why’dja talk like that Lyra? You sound like a freakin’ robot!” This actually prompted a laugh from Lyra - this was familiar territory for her.

“That is not the first time I have been asked that question. I suppose it is just another thing that feels “right”. Although I do understand why other people use contractions - they are more efficient. But speaking as I do tends to be clearer and easier for other people to understand.”

“Eh, that’s fair, even if it  _ is _ weird.” Lyra noticed that Rui was eyeing her half-finished plate again.

“Go on, take some if you are still hungry.” Rui gave a grateful nod, and swiped half of the remaining sandwich, stuffing her face as Dez rolled his eyes, Red giggled and Lyra ate the other half.

After lunch, Natalia had the class change into their sports gear and follow her to one of the many huge sports halls that lined the edge of the NYHA campus.

“Right, who actually read the timetable and can tell me what comes next?” Natalia sounded like she expected exactly what came next, which was all of three hands going up. “Go on then Olivia.”

“Next is the quirk icebreaker, ma’am! It gives us and you a chance to see what each other’s quirks do, as well as allowing us to get a feel for the facilities, ma’am!” Natalia rolled her eyes a little at the formalities.

“You can call me Natalia rather than “ma’am”, but yeah, you’re right. But, since there’s twenty of you, it isn’t just going to be me keeping an eye on you.” At that moment,  the doors to the training hall flew open violently, revealing a woman of fairly average height, Asian descent, an athletic build, and huge forearms that looked like they had been carved out of the side of a mountain. Quite literally, too - her forearms were made of stone, and were more than twice as long as they had any right to be. She wore a bright pink tracksuit with heavy work boots, and had her hair tied back into a messy black ponytail. Natalia groaned.

“Never can resist and entrance, can you Teruko.” The woman grinned.

“Absolutely not!” Unlike the Asian students in Lyra’s class, this new adult spoke with a bit of an accent, but still as clearly as anyone else there. “You know presentation’s important, Gunslinger!” Natalia sighed at what Lyra presumed was her hero name, as the woman she’d called Teruko walked over.

“So, class 1-A! Welcome to NYHA! I’m Teruko Morishige, better known by my hero name Landslide!” She flexed her enormous arms, a huge grin plastered across her face. “Now, the quirk icebreaker. We’ve got a variety of equipment set up for your use, every piece in its own zone. Before you go in and go mad, we’ve gotta go over safety - first, one person to a piece of equipment at a time. Second, only the person using a piece of equipment can be in its zone. Third, no using quirks on each other. Even if you  _ can _ control it, I don’t want any risk of injury today. Fourth, no going overboard, please. I’d rather still have a training hall by the end of the exercise.”

The last comment got a snicker from a few of the students, before Landslide brought her hands together with a clap that sounded almost like a grenade going off. “Right then! Let’s get started!” She pivoted around, striding off and leading a slightly stunned class to follow Natalia into the hall. Lyra, being at the front of the group, overheard Natalia muttering;

“Every damn time. Where does she get the energy?”

“Ms Landslide is very like Rui,” Lyra thought, glancing to her friend, who was at that point trying to stare at the end of her forked tongue, somehow managing to not walk into anyone in the process, “They are both very excitable people. I look forward to lessons with her.”


	6. Quirks And Their People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the fanmade Boku no Hero Academia spinoff, My Hero Academia: USA! Set in America in the same universe as the main BNHA story, and at around the same time, MHA: USA follows the story of Lyra Englehardt in her journey through the New York Hero Academy, and the many adventures she gets caught up in along the way! This story features entirely original characters and a completely new plot which we, the team, have built from the ground up, deviating ever more from the main story as our story progresses! We hope you enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh, took a while longer for this one. Why do I always start off these notes with how long I took to produce a chapter? Force of habit and need to apologise, I guess. Dealing with mental health issues isn't a fun thing at the best of times, but when they're directly inhibiting all you productivity it's real not good. Anyway, this chapter is here now! Better late than never!
> 
> I feel like I should say something important or funny or something in these but here I am rambling ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

The training hall was crammed with equipment of all kinds of equipment, like Landslide had said. Most students stood and looked around in awe, but some made a beeline straight for certain things. An excited chatter swept over the students, and Lyra stood back for a moment, trying to decide what would be the best approach. The sound of an explosion ripped through the training hall, as Jamarcus, who clearly had no such hesitation, let loose a “firework” that burst in a flash of bright blue light against one of the many practise targets in the hall. The silence that fell only lingered for an instant, as Rui gave a loud whoop, before charging off to obliterate a training dummy. Even Red was getting into it, standing in the middle of a bunch of tennis ball launchers, deflecting the balls with his quirk.

Lyra made her way over to a massive block labelled “test your strength”. One side could deform, as demonstrated by the fact that it was flexing inwards quite noticeably as the pale-skinned, white-haired boy who had introduced himself as Edward, veins bulging slightly, slammed his punches into it, a screen at the top reading out the pretty large forces he was putting into it. After a bit, his skin went back to perfectly smooth, and he walked away, flashing Lyra a slick smile as he stood back, letting her take a turn. Lyra took a wide stance, drew her right hand back, and lit it up glowing red with her quirk. The subsequent punch sounded almost like a gunshot, the readout shooting up beyond Edward’s. When Lyra turned around, Edward’s smooth composure broke for an instant with a death glare, before he returned to his calm composure.

Lyra headed to check out some of the other zones, starting with the acrobatics and obstacle course. Which, as it turns out, was being dominated by the winged, silver-haired Austin, who was dexterously swooping through the acrobatics area, periodically taking a break to perch at a high point and survey the rest of the hall. Lyra charged up her power once more, focussing it through her legs to launch herself across the obstacle course and grab onto a hanging bar, getting a whistle of approval from Austin.

“Not bad for a power quirk!” he called out to Lyra. “Heck, you might even be able to stand toe to toe with Cyril! She is  _ not _ gonna be happy about that.” Lyra cocked her head in his direction.

“Who is Cyril?”

“She introduced herself with the rest of the class! Y’know, the one with the blue-tipped hair and a face like a cat with a grudge?” Lyra thought for a moment.

“Oh, Hibiki Kusada!”

“Yeah! Except don’t call her that. She doesn’t like that either, and I’d know. I think I still have a bruise from that.” Lyra did an awkward shrug from where she hung, before swinging hand over hand across the rest of the hanging bars to an end platform. Austin proceeded to fly past, turning around to grin at her before flying right into a wall. Lyra heard a laugh from below, and looked down to see Cyril with a knowing smirk on her face before she spotted Lyra, her face returning to a scowl.

A short way from where Lyra stood, Rui was having quite a time beating up training dummies that had been set up in small groups for the students, before a sudden burst of black fire caused her to take a look around. The source of the fire wasn’t so easy to see at first, because they were shrouded in fire that, oddly enough, absorbed light, but as they flames died down they revealed Mari with a wild smile and a set of scorched dummies. She was playing with her hair and letting a small black flame dance across her fingertips, quite in her own world. Rui bounded up to her.

“Hey! You’re Mari, aren’t you! Your quirk is really cool!” The other girl turned to face her, expression clearly showing that she had, in fact, not been listening.

“Hm? Were you talking to me?”

“Yeah! Your quirk is super cool! I’ve never seen black fire!” Rui bounced a little in front of Mari, who gave her a slightly off-kilter smile in return.

“Most unusual, isn’t it? One of the many oddities of our world. It is hot, like regular fire, but has the opposite effect on light.” She became lost in watching the black flames dance around her hand again, and so Rui took a look around at the other people in her area. The first she noticed was Olivia, the girl who talked like a military cadet. She was holding a sword and shield that looked like they were right out of a history book, except for the fact that they were made entirely of some kind of amber energy. Rui made a beeline for her just as she completed some complex set of swings.

“Hey! Olivia!” Olivia turned at the shouting.

“That is me. And you are Rui, am I correct?”

“Yup! That’s me! Rui Jaiden!”

“Greetings, Rui. Is there anything you need from me?” With a flick of her wrists, the sword and shield dissipated into nothing.

“Nope! Just wanted to say hi and get a look at your quirk!”

“Very well.” Olivia held a hand out flat, and a simple staff made of the same orange energy formed in it. “As I explained in class, my quirk lets me summon weapons I know well, in the form of an amber projection.” She turned the hand palm-down and let the staff fall, causing it to immediately dissipate. “I can only maintain a weapon as long as it’s in contact with my skin, so I’m limited to melee weapons. Is there anything else you would like to know?” Rui shook her head, her chaotic hair flicking around her face.

“Nope! I just wanted to see it in action!” Olivia nodded, and began to do basic staff attacks against the dummy while Rui watched happily.

Back over in the acrobatics zone, Lyra was edging fractions of a second off of her time around an obstacle course, the tight corners and small spaces of which restricted her quirk. She kept telling herself that she needed to be able to maneuver well, but anyone could see from her gleeful smile that the fun atmosphere of the hall was getting to her.

After probably about half an hour, a whistle sounded out shrill through the hall, stopping most of the students dead in their track. Most, because not even a second after the noise died down, a tremendous crash could be heard from the training dummy area, and Lyra watched from a distance as Ms Morishige endeavoured slowly to calm Edward down. Eventually she was successful, and gave another short-sharp blow on the whistle she held carefully between a massive, rocky finger and thumb.

“Alright!” She called out, her voice resonating around the hall, “A lovely little display of quirks there! We’ve had water and snacks brought in for you all, so come get some sustenance, and then you’re welcome to stick around in here for a while longer, or go off and do your own thing!”

The students all began to return to the entrance, chatter starting to circulate once more. Ms Morishige had rather understated the situation - there were a couple of huge tapped water barrels, and a platter piled high with a wide variety of biscuits. As vast as the pile seemed, however, it didn’t take all that long to get polished off entirely, ravenous teen appetites cutting through the snacks with ease. With naught but crumbs left and a reasonable amount of water drawn from the barrels, some of 1-A began to disperse to do their own thing, while a few got back to making use of the training hall. Rui had of course located Lyra, Dez and Red immediately once the session was over, and was just on the verge of dragging them all to the training rooms, when someone called out for Red.

“Red! Hey! Don’t run off!” When the group turned to look at who it was, Lyra identified him as Junichiro Murata, the boy who had kept glancing at Red while giving his introduction. Red looked to the others for help, before Juni reached him and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“Red Landeck, as I live and breathe. Who ever would’ve guessed that we’d end up at the same school, let alone in the same class?”

“Hehe, um, yeah, I didn’t even recognise you until you said your name. You’ve got a new haircut...”

“You didn’t recognise  _ my _ beautiful face? How could you!” Juni put a hand to his chest in an overdone display of face offense, and Red’s embarrassment gave Lyra the chance to jump in with a question.

“Did you know each other prior to enrolling at NYHA?” Juni turned his eyes to her.

“Yup! Went to the same middle school!” Red nodded to confirm what Juni was saying. “Me and shorty here-” he said as he gently elbowed Red, “-got compared a lot because of our quirks, but we didn’t let that make us rivals!”

“We did kind of…” Red seemed to have gotten over his initial shock, enough to shrug a little with his retort.

“Well, yeaaah, but it was friendly rivalry, wasn’t it?” He elbowed Red in the ribs gently, prompting a small laugh from Red. “We were still friends at the end of the day, right?”

“Yeah,” Red smiled back at him, “Yeah, we were.” Juni released Red’s shoulders and began to walk off.

“Catch you later then, Red? Maybe at dinner? Some of the others are playing games and I’m gonna join them!”

“Yeah, see you later!” Red waved after Juni as he left, before turning back to the others, a relieved smile on his face.

“He seems cool!” Rui beamed at Red.

“Yeah…” Red seemed pensive. “Yeah, he’s cool.”

After the group had changed and Rui had dragged them around the campus for a while longer, they found themselves winding up on the top level of the tallest of the classroom buildings, on an uncovered area not unlike a balcony. No-one else was up there, just the four of them, so Rui, had a lot of space to, well, be Rui. Dez remained leaning up against the wall next to the door, whilst Red and Lura bot walked up to the railings, looking out over the expanse of the NYHA campus.

“I’ve been here a few times before,” Red started thinking out loud, “But I’ve never realised just how  _ big _ this place is. It’s a good thing timetables are adjusted accordingly…” Lyra glanced at him.

“How are you already aware of the timetabling? We have not received our personal timetables yet.”

“My mom’s the principal, remember? She’s talked about it at home sometimes, including recently.”

“Oh, of course. I had forgotten about that aspect of your life.” This prompts a smile from Red.

“Really? I’m glad.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want anyone to judge me based on my mom being the principal!”

“Why would they do that?” Her question just gets a smile in return from Red.

“You’re unusual, Lyra. There’s just, something different about you. Sure, Rui’s personality is bright as hell and she makes you grin your face off, but you? You’ve just got this quiet confidence, or… Something! Confidence in other people! I mean, you told me before the exam that I’d be fine, and here we are!” Lyra looked back out over the campus.

“My parents have always taught me that it is important not to judge people on their first impression, or their appearance, or anything else like that. It is best to judge them on their character as you see it over time. My parents are good people, and I try to be a good person too. I want to give them reason to be proud of me.” Red followed her gaze, letting her words hang in the air.

“Are they heroes?” Lyra looks around in surprise at the question.

“They are not professional heroes but…  I look up to them. They may not combat villains, but they have set me an excellent example. They are  _ my _ heroes.”

**Author's Note:**

> Did you enjoy that? We hope you did! We're certainly enjoying bringing you this story! If you did enjoy, why not leave a comment with your thoughts? We'd certainly appreciate it a ton!
> 
> Oh, and if you really liked it and are excited for more, why not join the Discord server we have set up? You can do so right here:
> 
> [discord.gg/ZFftQPv](https://discord.gg/ZFftQPv)  
> 
> 
>   
> We'd love to see you there! The whole team is in that server!


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